Little did I know as I was planning, designing, and typesetting my new little book Free Trade or Protectionism? that the official release date I selected would coincide with the launch of President Trump’s trade war.

I shouldn’t have been so surprised since Trump is an economic nationalist who believes that only limited “fair” trade, increased tariffs, and a lower trade deficit will make America great again.

In one of the Republican primary debates, Trump proposed a 45 percent tariff on all imported goods from China “if they don’t behave.”

China must have misbehaved because Trump has imposed tariffs “on as much as $60 billion worth of Chinese goods to combat the rising threat from a nation that the White House has called ‘an economic enemy.’” Hours later, China announced that it planned to impose tariffs on $3 billion worth of American exported goods, including fruit, pork, wine, and seamless steel pipes.

My antidote to Trump’s misguided views on trade is the eight essays I have collected and published as Free Trade or Protectionism?

These essays on free trade and protectionism were written over the twenty-year period from 1996 to 2016 for the Ludwig von Mises Institute, the Future of Freedom Foundation, and LewRockwell.com. The essays are arranged in chronological order, and each one can be read

independently. They are reprinted verbatim, with the exception of the correction of any typographical errors. Although only one essay was written directly in response to Trump, they are all nevertheless very timely.

In “Company Man,” I answer thirteen fallacies on trade.

In “The Moral Case for Free Trade,” I make the moral case for free trade in response to conservatives who are known for opposing government intervention and regulation.

In “Managed Trade Is Not Free Trade,” I criticize U.S. trade treaties and agreements.

In “Protectionism Is Central Planning,” I make the case that conservative calls for protectionism are actually calls for Soviet-style central planning.

In “Are There Rules for Trade?,” I make clear that the rules for trade are contrary to the misconceptions about trade held by conservative and liberal opponents of free trade.

In “James Champlin: An Early Advocate for Free Trade,” I present the critique of protectionism of an eighteenth-century advocate for free trade.

In “Free Trade Is Fair Trade,” I criticize liberal and conservative advocates of “fair” trade.

In “Will Tariffs Make America Great Again?,” I directly respond to President Trump’s views of tariffs and trade deals.